Monoculture describes systems that have very low diversity. The term is applied in several fields. Diversity is the presence of a wide range of variation in the qualities or attributes under discussion. ...

Land Use

Agriculture

In agriculture, "monoculture" describes the practice of planting crops with the same patterns of growth resulting from genetic similarity. Examples include Wheat fields or Apple orchards or Grape vineyards. These cultivars have uniform growing requirements and habit resulting in greater yields on less land because planting, maintenance (including pest control) and harvesting can be standardized. This standardization results in less waste and loss from inefficient harvesting and planting. It also is beneficial because a crop can be tailor planted for a location that has special problems - like soil salt or drought or a short growing season.
A cultivar is a cultivated variety of a plant species. ...

Monoculture produces great yields by utilizing plants' abilities to maximize growth under less pressure from other species and more uniform plant structure. Uniform cultivars are able to better use available light and space, but also have a greater drain on soil nutrients. In the last 50 years modern practices such as monoculture planting and the use of synthesized fertilizers have greatly reduced the amount of land needed to produce much higher yielding crops. The success of monoculture cropping has produced a world wide surplus of food stuffs that has depressed crop prices that farms receive.

Forestry

In forestry, monoculture refers to the planting of a many species of tree crop instead of encouraging a diverse canopy of trees. A diverse forest stimulates biodiversity by providing suitable habitat for different species. Some countries such as Scotland have programs in place to create incentives for landowners to plant native species broadleaf trees instead of non-native fast growing conifers. A decidous beech forest in Slovenia. ... Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity is the variation of taxonomic life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. ... Motto: (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity(English) Wha daur meddle wi me? (Scots)[1] Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic, Scots[2] Government  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

Catastrophic crop failure

Monoculture can lead to large scale crop failure as this single genetic variant or cultivar becomes susceptible to a disease. The Irish potato famine was caused by susceptibility to Phytophthora infestans. The wine industry in Europe was devastated by susceptibility to Phylloxera during the late 19th century. Each crop then had to be replaced by a new cultivar imported from another country that had used a different genetic variant that was not susceptible to the pathogen. This Osteospermum Pink Whirls is a successful cultivar. ... An 1849 depiction of Bridget ODonnell and her two children during the famine. ... Binomial name Phytophthora infestans (Mont. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... Grape Phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, family Phylloxeridae, superfamily Aphidoidea) is a serious pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... This Osteospermum Pink Whirls is a successful cultivar. ...

Lawns and animals

Examples of monocultures include lawns and most field crops, such as wheat or corn. The term is also used where a single species of farm animal is raised in large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). For other uses, see Lawn (disambiguation). ... Farmlands in Hebei province, China. ... In agriculture, a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) is a farm that raises livestock and seeks to maximize production by making highly efficient use of space and other resources. ...

Polyculture

The environmental movement seeks to change popular culture by redefining the "perfect lawn" to be something other than a turf monoculture, and seeks agricultural policy that provides greater encouragement for more diverse cropping systems. Local food systems may also encourage growing multiple species and a wide variety of crops at the same time and same place. Heirloom gardening has come about largely as a reaction against monocultures in agriculture. The Environmental Movement (a term that sometimes includes the conservation and green movements) is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... It has been suggested that Local food network be merged into this article or section. ... Only a few of the many varieties of potato are commercially grown; others are heirlooms. ...

See also

• Polyculture
• Seed bank
• Biodiversity
• Heirloom gardening
• Three Sisters

Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture. ... The preservation of plant germplasm in seedbanks, (or genebanks), is one of the techniques of ex-situ conservation of plant species. ... Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity is the variation of taxonomic life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. ... Only a few of the many varieties of potato are commercially grown; others are heirlooms. ... The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of Native Americans in North America: squash, maize (or corn), and climbing beans. ...

External links

• Monoculture and disease

Computer science

In computer science, a monoculture is any computer system which is nearly universally used. This concept is significant when discussing computer security and viruses. In particular, Dan Geer has argued that Microsoft is a monoculture, since a striking majority of the overall number of computers connected to the Internet are workstations and servers running versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, many of which are vulnerable to same attacks. This is in contrast to the early days of the net, when there was a much more even distribution of operating systems and hardware/processor types, and it was concomitantly much more difficult to create a broadly applicable attack. Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... A BlueGene supercomputer cabinet. ... Computer security is the current computer science collaboration of the week! Please help improve it to featured article standard. ... A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. ... Dan Geer is a former computer security consultant for @stake, a company cooperating with Microsoft. ... Microsoft is one of few companies engaging itself in the console wars Where they are up against sony, nintendo, and of course sharps new console which may cause a threat. ... Microsoft is one of few companies engaging itself in the console wars Where they are up against sony, nintendo, and of course sharps new console which may cause a threat. ... Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of proprietary software operating systems by Microsoft. ... An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ...